


Etched In Her Heart

by Skullszeyes



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Crying, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Memory Loss, Past Relationship(s), Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Promises, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, Tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 20:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17669648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullszeyes/pseuds/Skullszeyes
Summary: Kairi and Lea go to Radiant Garden, and Kairi remembers a bit of her life there before it was taken from her.





	Etched In Her Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hey. I wanted to write a Kairi fic, and I'll be writing another for her sooner or later. :) But this came to mind when I wondered why Axel/Lea never said anything about Kairi. They lived in the same world, including Ienzo. I mean, I guess it wasn't essential to the plot of Kingdom Hearts, but it would've been nice to see a bit of Kairi's development, including her character with others without Sora and Riku. She's was a bit younger than Ienzo at the time when they lived in Radiant Garden, while Lea and Isa were teens. Idk. I wouldn't have mind a bit of that for Kairi since you know, her development kind of sucks. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciative.

This place was familiar. She knew it when she stepped into the square, empty of people, the stillness reminded her of a long time ago, a voice that told her stories. Except she couldn’t grasp the memory. She was stranded amongst the new memories, and she had grown to love them, but still an ache inside her told her to remember. To reach out and find a part of her that was lost. 

“Grandma,” Kairi whispered, opening her eyes. Her lip trembled at the word, at the softness of the breeze in the days when she walked through the streets of Radiant Garden. 

“Kairi?” she turned to see Axel, no, his name was Lea. Bright spiky red hair, taller than she was, once she was afraid of him. He was cruel in the life he left behind, the one he had to shed so he could awaken. “Are you okay?”

She nodded slowly. “I’ve been here,” she told him. Her present memories told her that she hadn’t, that she always lived on the islands with her two best friends. Inside of her, a core of memory was fighting its way through, telling her the truth that she had hid a long time ago when the stars fell to the ground and the shadows had begun to engulf the world. 

Lea nodded, he was relaxed as he stared upon the houses, the sky, the castle. “I’ve been here too.”

“You have?” she asked, surprised.

“I used to live here...before I was a Nobody.” He almost sounded sad, but his eyes were wide with curiosity and hope. He missed this place, she knew he did. “The darkness had swallowed it whole once, I never thought I’d return again.”

The darkness. He was there when it happened. 

“I was too young to remember,” Kairi said, clasping her hands in front of her, “when it happened...when the world was taken away. Something had brought me to Sora and Riku. Everything else was history, it no longer mattered where I came from before. I found a new home with them. They’re everything to me, and with our training, I hope I can help them end the war.”

She was determined to keep that inner promise. To fight as much as she can with her best friends, to free everyone from a fate they did not deserve. No world should ever be engulfed by darkness. No one should feel as she did, children lost in the shadows of worlds.

Out of it all, she was glad she met them, and she’s glad that it brought her back to Radiant Garden. 

“I remember you,” Lea said, sheepish. “Not much...but I think I seen you a few times.”

Kairi looked up, her heart racing at the implication that they were so close to each other once. Brushing past each other on a grand scheme that brought them once more together, fighting beside each other, learning to hold their ground on a power that was bestowed to them. 

“You were with your grandmother, right?” he asked. 

A slight pain ached in her chest, and she wanted to cry. The tears brimmed at her eyes, and she found words wouldn’t leave her lips. Lea seemed to notice her distress, and came around to face her as she curled, quietly sobbing. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t meant too…”

“It’s okay,” she whispered, sucking in a sliver of breath, “it’s okay, Lea. I’m fine. I just...wish I could remember more.”

“You were only a kid,” Lea told her, his hands close to touching her shoulders, but he kept them away, too cautious. Kairi didn’t need him to feel awkward, she embraced him and he stiffened, his breath caught in his throat before he wrapped his arms around her body. “You were only a kid, Kairi. You wouldn’t have remembered anything.”

“I wish I did.”

“Think about Sora and Riku, think about how everything that happened, the darkness hadn’t swallowed you whole. Something out there in the world, maybe even your pure of heart, had brought you to them so you can stand beside them to fight that same darkness.” His own throat seemed stifled, and she knew he was crying as well, his hold had tightened, and they didn’t let go for several minutes. 

Kairi wiped the tears from her eyes and gave Lea a smile. “I’m sorry...I guess it was needed, knowing that my grandmother is no longer here. I can barely remember her, her voice is distant.”

“All that matters is that you escaped the darkness, and she would’ve been glad that you were saved to live another day, to walk the path you’re on now.”

Kairi nodded. “Of course.” It was difficult, but it stayed on her mind as she and Lea walked toward the castle. Flashes of memory appeared in her mind, her grandmother was sweet, a warmth that comforted her and kept her safe until the day they were separated. 

When they entered the castle, more memories appeared, something strangely distinct. She walked the halls before, many times with her grandmother, and many times with someone else.

“Isa and I used to sneak into the castle,” Lea reminisced with a smile.

“So you were always rebellious,” Kairi said, chuckling. 

“Hey, what else were we supposed to do? I guess...we were curious, but we kept going in, and we got caught many times, but when we didn’t get caught.” Confliction plastered upon Lea’s face. “There was someone crying behind a door...I wanted to get her out.”

Kairi frowned. “What door?”

Lea shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. She was gone after, and then Isa and I became Ansem the Wise’s apprentice, then boom, we were Nobodies.”

“Just like that?”

Lea grinned. “Not just like that. A lot more steps, it was dark once, terrible even.”

What did he go through that made him smile but his eyes were sad. Lea held a turmoil that wouldn’t fade. He must think of Roxas a lot, maybe each time he looks at Sora. It must hurt to miss someone whose so close yet impossible to reach. 

Kairi blinked and something changed, she stopped in the hallway as a young girl ran past her. Short red hair, a white and purple dress. She was laughing, a light in her eyes, the same light that imprisoned and saved her years later. Lea called her name, but she was more focused on what came next. Her grandmother wasn’t in this memory, but someone else who she recalled quite clearly.

He also lived in the castle. He was young, yet a bit older than she was, more empty in his eyes, but he was a child like she was and they played within the walls of the castle when he would sneak away from his caretakers. 

His blue hair was short at the back, long at the front that covered a part of his face. He wore one of the white coats that fitted his stature, and blue jeans with sneakers. He was chasing after her younger self, running through the halls before they began to fade from her memory.

“Kairi, are you okay?” Lea asked, concerned as she shook her away her stupor.

“I saw...something.”

“What?” he asked, glancing down the hall, but the memory was gone. 

“I used to play with someone who lived within the castle,” she told him as they continued down the hall. 

“There were a lot of kids wandering the halls,” Lea said, and it seemed to bother him that he had said that, but she wouldn’t know what it was, he didn’t bother elaborating. Instead he moved onto another subject, and she barely heard him as they entered Ansem the Wise’s office. 

Once she pushed the door open when she was young, she spoke to the man who she’ll meet years later. It was inevitable. Everything connected, not particularly to her, but to Sora. 

When they entered, the chair was empty, and there were piles of untidy research papers and books on the desk. Some were left on the floor, but she was careful not to step on them as Lea brought her down the hall to their left. She never came down this hall before, it was slightly cold and ominous with a soft hum that grew with each step she took. 

When they turned, Lea waved at a man standing in front of a large computer. He turned, his empty expression changed, a smile spread across his lips. 

Kairi stopped in the threshold, staring at the man wearing a long coat. He seemed preoccupied in telling Lea of his analysis. 

She stepped closer, wondering if it was true, her memories. There was no point in questioning them. He was once an Organization member, but she never met him when he was a Nobody. He died beforehand from the way he was complete now. 

He finally noticed her, looking away from Lea who was waving his hand at whatever difficult explanation the man was saying. His eyes widened, brows rising as he stepped past Lea.

“Kairi?”

She was going to start crying again, and she didn’t understand why. Her memory of Radiant Garden and everyone in it was limited. She was a child. She barely remembered anyone, but coming back and meeting the people whom she was once close too was overwhelming. It was like meeting a part of her that she had shut away and was now connecting together. 

“You...remember me?” she said, unsure of herself and him.

Ienzo stepped closer to her, nodding. “And you remember  _ me _ ? You were quite young, but you visited the castle a lot. My memory of my Nobody is sparse, but I’m sure he or I knew about you since you are a Princess of Heart that the Organization was once loo—”

“I don’t think Zexion would’ve cared,” Lea said, leaning against the computer.

Ienzo chuckled. “Probably not.”

Kairi laughed, wiping away a tear. “I never thought I would return to Radiant Garden, nor did I think I would have crossed paths with the both of you when you were Nobodies.”

“It no longer matters, Kairi,” Lea said, “we’re whole, we’re home, and we’re on a different path than what we were before.”

She nodded, looking back at Ienzo. “I’m glad you’re alright...after what happened.”

Ienzo stepping closer, “I’m glad you’re alright after all these years, after what the Organization had to put you through.” And he slowly brought his arms around her, and she welcomed the hug. 

“They’re still being bothersome.”

Ienzo chuckled, “True. And that’s why the plan to stop them will work out for the best. At least we hope so.” 

They pulled a part, and Ienzo showed them his reports, mostly on Sora and a few on Kairi. She was a Princess of Heart. The light of Radiant Garden. The darkness itself wouldn’t have engulfed her. She would’ve been sent somewhere else like everyone whose worlds were stolen from them. Except her light, and the light of someone else had taken her to Sora and Riku. 

To the start of her own adventure, and now she stands with Keyblade in hand, to stop the war. She would protect the worlds from darkness. She would keep everyone from suffering the fate she and her friends have endured. And when she is finished, she’ll return to the people who have stayed in her memory. 

Kairi felt the breeze when she left the castle by herself, remembering the walkways, smiling and enjoying what she had missed when she was young. Too aware of the ocean breeze, of the sunset, of the heat of the sun and the sand. The shells within the water. 

Kairi bent down and picked a bouquet of flowers. She once enjoyed the sweet scents, it had stayed in the back of her mind, and now she knew the source. She continued walking down the pathway. 

“I’m ready,” she said, rocking back and forth on her feet, fingers tightening on stems of the flowers clasped in her hands. “I’m ready to help my friends, to save the worlds, to go home to Destiny Islands. We’re going to win.” Kairi knelt down. “I’ll return to this world when I can. I’ll take it all in, visit Lea...Isa, and Ienzo, and anyone else who I had forgotten as a child. I’ll walk these same streets with Sora and Riku.” 

Tears trailed down her face as she set the flowers down onto a grave. “I won’t give up, I’ll fight until I can’t.” She wiped away the tears. “For now, goodbye, grandma. I know we didn’t have time to say it before the darkness had taken hold. I promise I’ll fight to keep it away from all worlds, to keep them safe as my friends have always kept me safe.”

Kairi stood, her promise etched in her heart as she made her way back to the castle, to Lea, to Ienzo, to her future where she’d stand on the same battlefield with her friends. Where it’ll all begin and end. 

**Author's Note:**

> The spoiler isn't much, it's in the Secret Reports. I added a bit of determination in Kairi since kh3 kind of butchered her yet again. Fanfic is amazing when you can simply tweak the character. Although she's crying a lot in this fic, but whatever.  
> \-----  
> \----  
> \--  
> MILD SPOILER:  
> Lea and Isa would sneak into the castle and find out about a bunch of kids being experimented on, and they made a friend who could either be Ava or Skuld from the mobile game. She had no memory and she would say MoM's phrase, "May Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key." One day, she wasn't there anymore or something like that. :/ It's the same girl Heartless!Ansem was asking to Ansem the Wise after he abducted him. 
> 
> I hoped you enjoyed.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciative.


End file.
